"Through architecture, my goal is to create original inventions of beauty and function that are simultaneously simple and complex," says William Bruder.

A college sculptor major who never pursued a formal architecture degree, the Phoenix-based architect has been creating buildings since 1974, structures imbued with extraordinary expressiveness, a well-defined sense of place, and a flourishing spirit of humanism. Bruder never forgets that architecture, in order to be transcendent, needs first to connect with people where they live-metaphorically and physically.

Will Bruder's buildings blend intellectual rigor with an artful aestheticism. The acclaimed Phoenix Central Library (1993-1995) is an ecologically advanced building that blends technology with the visual iconography of the mountains that form the city's "skyline." Spare but powerful sculptural elements define the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (1997-1999), a remodeled multiplex theater. They are architecture not as Goethe's "frozen music" but as accelerated poetry.

Will Bruder has been a critic and lecturer at the School of Architecture at Arizona State University since 1971 and has won numerous awards, including the Rome Prize and the DuPont Bennedicturs Award. Recent projects include the Teton County Library in Jackson, Wyoming; the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno; several private residences; and a performing arts high school in Tempe, Arizona.